Issue Review by Silver Bullet Comic Books.com: "Second Contact". Writer: Stuart Moore, Artists: John Delaney(p), Robin Riggs(i), John Kalisz(c), Publisher: DC, Stuart Moore conceives an inventive take on Star Trek's "The Tholian Web" in Justice League Adventures. This episode in turn was derivation of The Wizard of Oz, but the actual reduced premise of the episode and book are incidental to what's more important to the story: characterization. Mr. Moore does a superb job of delineating the various personalities in the Justice League roster. His defining John Stewart as a soldier makes sense given the Corps after the Green Lantern, and it changes the long-standing idea of the Lanterns being mere intergalactic policemen. Like the Federation however the Corps operates very differently from what we know of armies present and past. Only the barest minimum of tactics remain the same. By making the Lantern a soldier, Mr. Moore shows the differences between he and Hawkgirl who really is an intergalactic police officer. What makes her different from the detective/vigilante Batman is that she has been trained to think as a warrior. As you watch Mr. Moore slot each Leaguer into various roles, you can see how the personalities are forged from those roles. Hawkgirl's warrior training is similar to that of Wonder Woman, but the Amazons are also established guardians and prefer peaceful solutions. J'onn J'onz is a pacifist who turned to war when his planet was invaded. Superman is a champion. The Flash is literally a good, regular guy with super-powers. Together you see in Stuart Moore's work how their "infinite diversity" combines to make the Justice League resonate. No wonder they have lasted so long in the minds and hearts of their viewers, and no wonder the Cartoon Network had such a big hit with the series. John Delaney is of course familiar with these characters from his days on Adventures in the DCU, and while his treatment of the League varies from each member, the artwork is uniformly action-packed as well as emotion-filled. The sly smiles shared between Superman and Wonder Woman when they contact Batman who has a memorable moment when pitted against the Penguin exhibit atypical aspects of the characters. The standout scene when J'onn telepathically alerts Shayera displays Mr. Delaney's talent for depicting various camera angles within the animated style, and his body language for Shay who is the Leaguer that shares the spotlight with John Stewart--the cover is a little misleading--fits her perfectly.

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